Freedom of Philadelphia

While he hasn’t “officially announced” anything yet, this is pretty darn apparent that he’s going to enter the race. Saw this over at the Politico.

Fred Thompson, the “Law & Order” actor and former senator from Tennessee, has moved beyond pondering a bid for the White House and begun assembling the nucleus of a campaign should he decide to run, according to people involved in the effort.

You know, you can’t really assemble a nucleus unless you can convince people you are serious about the run. The question I have is this, “Does he know, truly, what it’s going to take to run a serious campaign in the current political climate?”.

“The outreach to him has been so overwhelming that he is now starting to talk to people to really calibrate what it would take to run a successful campaign,’’ the adviser said. “He’s talking to some of the top unaligned strategists and fundraisers. He’s said: ‘I’m seriously considering it, and I’m happy to hear your thoughts and ideas.’”

I bolded the comment above. It makes me wonder, while this is very early in the race, with all the intensity that is already going on are their any of the top notch strategist and fundraisers left? I don’t know, but perhaps with FDT’s grassroots support being so strong perhaps there are some who are on other teams that could be convinced to switch as their candidates loose steam?

Thompson also has met with other big Republican players, including some who work for other presidential campaigns, sources said.

I’ve been thinking alot about why the level of interest is so high inThompson. Many who’ve read my posts in the recent past know that I’m a Newt supporter but Thompson definitely interests me. This is especially true as I’ve heard some of his commentary on current world events (google Thompson, What would Ghandi do?). I still want to know his views on illegal immigration but he’s definitely garnering my interest.

If Thompson runs, he’s likely to stress his willingness to take on the biggest issues, including nuclear proliferation and the entitlement crisis, advisers said. “People are disappointed that for the last two presidencies – almost 20 years now – we’ve seen people not held accountable and a cavalier attitude toward basic governmental responsibilities,” said the person who has talked to Thompson.

All good signs.